The rapid growth of digital communication has made it possible for all kinds of digital media files to be communicated amongst various types of wireless and wire line communication devices. For instance, the cellular or mobile telephone is no longer limited to telephonic voice communication and may include other means of digital communication, such as digital networking (i.e., Internet communication, text messaging, and the like). In addition, an increasing number of cellular telephones and other mobile wireless communication devices, such as portable computers, personal data assistants (PDAs) and the like, are being integrated with other means of capturing or producing digital media, such as digital cameras, digital audio recorders, digital video recorders and the like. Technological advances have made it possible for other digital devices, such as digital cameras, digital video recorders, digital audio devices and the like to be equipped with means for digital communication. As more and more digital devices possess the capability to digitally communicate with one another, the amount of digital media files that will be communicated amongst these devices will increase at an alarming rate.
In addition to the onset of more and more digital devices possessing digital communication capabilities, the digital storage capacity of these devices is constantly increasing. In the near future the majority of mobile digital communication terminals may well be equipped with storage capacity in the gigabyte range or greater, allowing these devices to store an enormous amount of digital data. In this environment it will no longer be prohibitive from a memory capacity standpoint to store a voluminous amount of large file types, such as video, audio or other multimedia files.
Portable digital devices, especially handheld digital devices, such as cellular telephones, PDAs or the like, are generally limited in terms of display size. For example, a cellular telephone display is typically less than 200×200 pixels, with current display size typically in the range of about 120×160 pixel. The smaller size display provides obstacles to users who desire the ability to quickly locate and access media files stored on the digital device. In particular, the small display size makes it difficult to identify media file content unless the entire file is displayed or a significant portion of the media file content is displayed. As such, it is often difficult to browse file content in order to locate a specific media item. Most conventional user interface applications for accessing files are designed for full-sized displays and, as such, are not conducive to implementation on handheld portable devices having small displays.
The problems related to locating and accessing media items on portable digital devices will be exasperated in the future when such portable devices provide for storage capacity in the gigabyte range. A user of such a device will be frustrated with trying to find a specific media item from amongst a storage unit that provides for storage of hundreds of thousands of media items. In order to easily and efficiently locate a media item from amongst such a high volume of media items a user needs to be able to categorize media items and files according to numerous item or file related parameters, such as file type, file creation date, event related to the media file or the like.
Therefore, the need exists to develop a media file user interface application, especially suited for portable digital devices having a small display. The desired application will provide the ability to efficiently and effectively browse media files to locate specific media items. As such, the desired application will present the display of media files and media items in such a manner that is conducive to browsing on device's having small displays. In addition, the desired application will provide for an easily activated search function that provides the user the ability to perform searches based on metadata information related to the media items, user-stored information related to the media items, text within the media item or the like. In addition, the desired application will present search results in a form that is highly user-friendly and is especially suited to small sized displays.